Property group Emaar Misr upbeat for 2011 – paper

Property group Emaar Misr expects to hand over 1,800 units to customers in Egypt next year, its general manager was quoted on Wednesday as saying, boosting income at a time its parent’s home market in Dubai has flagged.

Emaar Misr, a unit of Dubai-based Emaar Properties , plans to deliver 1,500 units at its Marassi project on the Mediterranean coast and 300 units at Uptown Cairo, al-Mal cited General Manager Hazem Ashry as saying.

“The coming year, 2011, will be decisive for the company (Emaar Misr) in terms of revenues, liquidity levels and financial position, especially because we will deliver 1,500 units in the Marassi project and 300 units in Uptown Cairo,” the newspaper quoted Ashry as saying.

Egypt’s property sector has weathered the global economic downturn relatively well. A big population and growing economy have bolstered demand, while the country’s cash-driven economy shielded it from an international credit crunch.

Dubai’s once-booming property sector has slumped, pressing the emirate’s developers and contractors to diversify outside their home market.

Officials at Emaar Misr and Emaar in Dubai had no immediate comment on the report.

The newspaper added that Emaar Misr planned to award contracts worth 2.2 billion pounds for work at three of its projects — Marassi, Uptown Cairo and Mivida — in 2011.

In April, the firm said it had awarded a contract worth more than 300 million pounds to Orascom Construction Industries , Egypt’s biggest listed builder, for work at Marassi.

Emaar, part-owned by the Dubai government, has so far directly invested about 5 billion Egyptian pounds ($865.5 million) in Egypt, the newspaper said.